Bloomberg Profiles John Sperling

Bloomberg News carries a pretty interesting profile of John Sperling, the founder of the for-profit University of Phoenix:

In one meeting with Congressional staff members, Sperling, leaning on a cane, railed against the Obama administration, saying it was manipulated by investors betting against higher- education stocks, according to an aide who attended.

Truth is, interaction between the Obama administration and those "investors betting against higher- education stocks" would be a fine subject for some congressional or press inquiry.

The article also quotes Tom Harkin, the chairman of the Senate education committee:

"I've been accused of being against private enterprise," Harkin said. "This is not private enterprise. Ninety percent of their money is coming from the taxpayer."

There may well be non-profit or public colleges that get even more of their money from the taxpayers than the for-profits do, because the for-profits have a lot of online students who live at their homes, while the non-profits and the public colleges have a lot of students who get aid for room and board as well as for tuition. And the non-profits and the public colleges get a lot more federal research money than do the for-profits.

Thanks to reader-participant-community member-watchdog-content co-creator B. for sending the tip.